Adventures with the Air Arms S510 Ultimate Sporter

[nortac]

I've been concentrating on 18 gr. and above pellets with the thought that heavier pellets would perform best at longer ranges, retaining momentum and all. But some of the lighter pellets are showing some good groups at 30 yds., so I will be trying them at 50+ yds. as well.

 

[nortac]

Although not a small group, it is consistent. Just under an inch at 30 yds. Crosman Premeirs hollow points. Good enough for a cheap plinking pellet for reactive targets at moderate range. Striking low, a lighter pellet than what the gun is sighted in for, no compensation for hold over/under.

 

[nortac]

With the scope mounted so high over the bore, I've noticed that the windage is off when shooting heavier or lighter pellets than what the gun is sighted in for, whether striking higher or lower than the POA/POI of the sighted in pellet (JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy 18.? gr.). But what I don't understand, is that all of the off center line groups, both high and low, are off to the right. I would expect that the high and low groups would be off the center line in different directions.

 

[nortac]

Again not a small group but consistent, possible long range contender, JSB Jumbo Monster Diabolo 26 .39 gr. Just over 3/4 in. At 30 yds.

 

[WalterK]

Did you happen to notice if your groupings were affected by changes in temperature or by wearing a thicker sweater or jacket than usual?

 

[nortac]

@WalterK , weather's been fair to hot, T shirt weather.

 

[nortac]

@WalterK , weather's been fair to hot, T shirt weather.

To clarify, these observations were done during the same shooting session under the same conditions, at the same distance, shooting from the bench. Shooting the "sighted in" pellet, group centered on the bullseye, switch to another pellet, groups shift right either high or low, depending on the weight of the pellet, velocity, etc., all shot at 30 yds. Switch back to the "sighted in " pellet, groups are back to center. No loose scope screws. Scope not canted.

 

[WalterK]

To clarify, these observations were done during the same shooting session under the same conditions...

In high end competitions they have rules as to the shirts, shoes, eye-patches (etc) the competitors can wear. So presumably these things might affect scoring...but geez, who would want to go that level of "anality" for back-yard shooting.

Wearing a t-shirt one day and a heavy sweater or jacket the next might affect how one holds a gun, thus accuracy. I don't know if airgun barrels heat up (if any) during use, if they do then accuracy might be different between shot 1 and shot 50 in a short period of time. I know that WE have to take the time to warm-up and zone-in to have any type of repeatability.

But if everything was the same all the time, my posts so far are completely useless.




I did find these articles about pellet groupings for you, but didn't really have the time to read them; hopefully they will be of some use:

Why do shot groups move? | Air gun blog - Pyramyd Air Report

Do pellets spiral? | Air gun blog - Pyramyd Air Report​

 

[nortac]

@WalterK , thanks for the Air gun blog links. Very informative. As the groups in question were all shot at the same distance and I was switching pellets without adequate shooting of each kind, it is impossible to diagnose adequately at this time. I obviously need to spend more time with each pellet at different distances instead of switching back and forth frequently.

 

[eKretz]

That helical/spiral flight could be a possibility. I tried some pellets that did that, the poi was never the same at different ranges - some hit left, some hit right. Forget what brand that was, it was a long time ago. From what I understand if there's a radial imbalance in the pellet this happens pretty readily. What happens when you go from 20 yards out to 50, 10 at a time? Try it if you haven't - with the same pellet.

 

[nortac]

That helical/spiral flight could be a possibility. I tried some pellets that did that, the poi was never the same at different ranges - some hit left, some hit right. Forget what brand that was, it was a long time ago. From what I understand if there's a radial imbalance in the pellet this happens pretty readily. What happens when you go from 20 yards out to 50, 10 at a time? Try it if you haven't - with the same pellet.

I may do just that. So many pellets to shoot, so little time. I need to give the barrel a good cleaning first to rule out any fouling issues, then re-season it with a few groups before doing the actual test.

 

[nortac]

I finally fashioned a workable "pull through" bore cleaning device. Having tried weed eater line that always hung up on the baffles due to its permanent curl, I tried some 65 lb. braided fishing line. My gun being a .22 cal., I took a .177 hollow point pellet, put a hole all the way through it and strung it on the end of the fishing line. Placing the muzzle down, feed the pellet weighted line into the breach end, "bobbing" the line up and down, it eventually passes the baffles. A small loop in the other end for the cleaning patch. A slow process but works like a charm.

 

[nortac]

After my barrel cleaning session, I did some shooting. I stayed with the same pellet throughout my shooting session. I lubricated the H&N Barracuda Match pellets with Dillon Case Lube, which is Lanolin dissolved in Isopropyl alcohol. Spread the pellets out of a blue paper shop towel, spritz on the Dillon lube, roll them around, let em sit for the alcohol to evaporate, easy-peasy. I shot the first 30 rounds (three magazines) all on the same target. As I shot each magazine, I noticed that the group "grew" up and slightly to the left, in other words, each magazine worth of 10 rnds. caused the overlapping groups to migrate up and slightly to the left as the barrel got "re-seasoned" after cleaning. So the cumulative 30 rnd. group was vertically elongated and moving slightly to the left. The remainder of the shooting was 10 shot groups per target. The groups continued to improve slightly, with further shooting, but stopped "migrating". Unfortunately, even the best groups continued to have some unexplained fliers. It seemed to take 50-60 rounds for the barrel to get "seasoned" to this pellet. I also installed a bubble level to insure that I was not canting the scope in any way. Not sure that it made any difference at 30 yds.

 

[Ad Astra]

Rarely shoot my scoped Gamo, but saw a wasp nest way out of reach, and said why not.

PTWACK! In the scope, a circular, explosive cloud of wasps leadpt off ...few more shots and the nest was wrecked.

They really shouldn't have stung me last month. Some people bear grudges.


AA

 

[nortac]

MOWN!

 

[nortac]

So in about a months time, I've fired well over 600 rounds, probably closer to 800 rounds through my S510. I could not have gotten that kind of trigger time from a center fire gun or even a rimfire. Once the initial outlay is paid for, the operating costs can't be beat.

 

[nortac]

So today I shot only H&N Barracuda Match pellets. They are offered in 5.51mm, 5.52mm and 5.53mm head sizes. As previously posted, this is wishful thinking. The tin of allegedly 5.51mm head size was all over the place, none 5.51 mm. Today everything I shot was 5.53 mm, most coming from a tin labeled 5.52mm. This tin was fairly consistent in that 90% of them were 5.53mm, not 5.52mm. Weights varied from 21.1, gr., 21.2 gr. and 21.3 gr. I could not identify that sorting by weight and/or head size made a noticeable difference in accuracy. I sighted the scope for 30 yds with this pellet, requiring a scope adjustment from the previously preferred pellet, JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy, which weighed about 18 gr. I then shot these pellets at 20, 30, 40 and 52 yds and found no evidence of "Spiraling", as they did not give different deviation right or left from the midline. There were no bragging right groups, best was at 20 yds (duh!) at about .75 in., not too impressive. I have yet to open the tin of alleged 5.53mm H&N Barracuda Match pellets. I will shoot the remaining HNBM pellets before moving on to another pellet. Unless something amazing happens, I don't see that these pellets will be a contender as a long range accuracy pellet. I don't look forward to sorting the remaining HNBM pellets by weight and head size, but in the interest of ballistic science, I will. I'm thinking that once I identify a pellet as a "preferred" pellet, I may stop sorting by head size and weight for general usage.

 

[nortac]

Another observation. The scope I'm using on my Air Arms S510 Ultimate Sporter is the Hawke Sidewinder 6-24x56 First Focal Plane with 1/10th mil adjustments on the turrets. This is the first FFP scope I've used and the first with 1/10 th mil adjustments as opposed to 1/4 th MOA adjustments. A 1/10th mil is 0.36 in. at 100 yds whereas 1/4 MOA is 0.25 in. at 100 yds. Seems trivial and probably is at long range, but I'm unable to make exact windage adjustment at close range. My groups center either to the left or to the right of the X ring with one click increments at 30 yds. At this range, a 1/8th MOA adjustment would be most appropriate.

 

[WalterK]

Maybe take a break and start offhand shooting...those 3/4" groupings will start looking pretty good!

 

[nortac]

Maybe take a break and start offhand shooting...those 3/4" groupings will start looking pretty good!

Yeah, you right! But if I switch to offhand, it will be with my little Gamo. That S510 is like a crew served weapon! A bit heavy for off hand!